My social network usage (Spring 2018)

Facebook

Facebook’s the dominant social network; however, for myself, it’s mostly secondary to Twitter. I mainly use it because my family and online friends use it, plus its sheer dominance makes it impossible to completely ignore.

That said, I don’t get much site traffic from my Facebook page. That’s partly thanks to Facebook’s algorithms artificially throttling pages, basically making the network “pay to play.” As such, my Facebook page is more of a token effort these days.

Twitter

Twitter’s my most frequently used social network. All of my followers can see my tweets, I can see all of the tweets of those I follow, and it ties more into my hobbies and interests than Facebook does.

Google+

Google+ still draws some traffic to my site, but almost nobody I know online uses it. I’ve also fallen off on using the few communities I did join. Thus, my Google+ profile’s nowadays just for posting links to new blog posts. If it weren’t for the site traffic Google+ generates, I’d consider just shuttering my profile altogether, as it’d mean keeping up with one less social network.

Instagram

I still use Instagram for posting new photos. A few online friends, family, and relatives also follow me on the photo-sharing service.

Other networks

YouTube

Of course, I regularly use YouTube to watch various videos. It’s only listed here since some consider it a “social network.”

I do maintain a YouTube page, but it’s just a few old unboxing videos and a basic promo I made for the blog. While I’ve been asked a few times if I have a video podcast (or an audio podcast), I’ve got no plans to start such. (Hearing my voice recorded for my voice mail alone’s bad enough…)

LinkedIn

I still occasionally update my LinkedIn page. However, it hasn’t been a top priority, given LinkedIn hasn’t helped me actually gain work. LinkedIn does serve a use as a digital address book for contacts I’ve met at some functions.

Pinterest

As I wrote last fall, I’ve stopped updating my Pinterest page, though the page itself is still up.

Tumblr

Unlike my Pinterest page, I’ve not only stopped using Tumblr, but also shuttered the page I had up. Between a lack of site traffic generated, a drop in interest, the fact I already have a blog running, and Yahoo‘s problems, it seemed easier to just delete it entirely.

Conclusion

As things now stand, my main social media presence is on Twitter and Facebook. I make occasional use of Instagram and LinkedIn; meanwhile, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube see limited usage.

Given Facebook and Twitter’s constant algorithm changes, ongoing problems, etc., some bloggers and website owners are rediscovering the virtues of email for sending newsletters and new blog post notifications. And of course, good old RSS is still around. As I previously mentioned in my post on blogger promotion alternatives to Facebook, RSS and email are open standards that anyone can freely use.

4 thoughts on “My social network usage (Spring 2018)”

Nice to hear an update on your social media usage across channels. I’ve started blogging more, with the general goal of getting myself to appreciate life more. Blogging helps me to view things more constructively. Another reason why I blog is for the comments. I love comments. With that, I’ve given into Facebook, and have started to post excerpts of my blog posts directly on my Facebook profile. (Not my Facebook Page, because of Facebook’s dialing-down on Pages). So far I’ve gotten a good amount of comments on Facebook for these posts. It makes me feel like what I’m writing is appreciated.